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Saturday 16th September. Barry Rubery’s 3-year plan to get us out of this division looks as if it might be coming to fruition – in the wrong direction! A 2-1 defeat today against Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium has condemned us to the foot of the table with Sheffield Wednesday (our only victory of the season) in 23rd position. The non-spending policy adopted by the clubs proprietor is now having the effect that many fans thought it might, and it seems that the Bruce/Deehan management team are failing to motivate the players we have. I predicted earlier that Bruce wouldn’t complete the season at the McAlpine, and I am now starting to think that his tenure might end before the year is out. The selection was reasonably predictable as Jon Dyson was given the nod to partner Chris Lucketti replacing the unwilling/unable Ken Monkou with Kenny Irons reinstated at the expense of Chris Holland, and a very welcome name on the team sheet was Kevin Gray even if it was only on the bench. The Gills pressed forward from the start as they looked to improve their lowly league position in their first ever season in division 1 and Guy Butters headed narrowly wide in the first minute from Hessenthaller’s free kick and Nicky Southall kept Nico Vaesen with two early efforts. Having survived the early onslaught Town began to establish themselves in the game and suddenly just after the mid point of the first period Town took an unexpected lead. Against the run of play Kevin Gallen found himself in space and after cutting in from the left flank scored with a raking 25-yard shot that gave Vince Bartram no chance at all. The goal seemed to galvanise the team from Kent and within minutes both Carl Asaba and Marlon King went close for the Gills. The home side were the more committed and physical side and Jon Dyson and Chris Lucketti in defence had to be at their best to contain Gillingham. Marlon King again escaped the attentions of the defence before unleashing a shot that was well saved at full stretch by Nico Vaesen and it was a welcome relief to hear the half time interval reached without conceding an equaliser. With Town’s recent propensity to concede around the interval I started to think that we might actually get something out of this one. The interval did nothing to interrupt Gillingham’s dominance of the game and Town were immediately on the back foot with Chris Hope and Marlon King having early chances and the latter was then denied a goal by the linesman’s flag. Normal service was resumed on 55 minutes when Guy Butters who had previously come close to scoring equalised from a Gillingham set piece. Our defence looks so susceptible from corners this season, and once again it proved to be our downfall with the unmarked Butters heading in from Hessenthaler’s corner. Kevin Kyle was introduced shortly after the hour mark for Martin Smith and he combined well with Dean Gorré to set up Chris Beech but his effort flew just wide of the upright. Gillingham continued to dominate proceedings assisted by the referee who seemed to adopt a lenient stance towards the home sides physical approach. For the fourth time this season we were unable to hold onto a lead and once again contrived to turn an earlier lead into a deficit. The winning goal owed much to Town’s defensive failings this season when Kenny Irons attempted to flick the ball to safety from the edge of his own penalty area but ex-Town midfielder Marcus Browning blocked the ball and slipped a pass through to Carl Asaba. The former Brentford striker had plenty of time to send his measured delivery through to Paul Smith whose first time shot was despatched efficiently past Nico Vaesen. At least there was still a little fight from Town who did try to salvage something out of the game, but when you’re bottom of the league the luck and more importantly crucial match determining decisions go against you. Town began to become frustrated with their lack of possession and Gallen and Beech were both booked for an over zealous tackle on player/manager Andy Hessenthaller and Chris Lucketti soon followed suit with a yellow card of his own. We have enough problems this season with injuries and could well do without disciplinary problems to add to our selection worries. Deep into injury time, on loan striker Kevin Kyle worked himself some space in 15 yards in front of goal and was clearly pushed in the back as he prepared to shoot and surely a penalty would have to be awarded. To the immense surprise of everyone including the home supporters a free kick was awarded to Gillingham, and to add insult to injury Kyle was booked for diving! The confidence of the team is so low at the moment, and Bruce has got a lot of hard work to do to lift a team who are developing the habit of losing. Like many bad habits, they can be difficult to eliminate and if we are to extricate ourselves from the mess we are getting ourselves into we must start beating teams like Gillingham, or at the very least not lose to them. Four points from 7 games deservedly puts us at the bottom of the table and we have got to do something now before we lose ground on those above us.
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All words and thoughts by Chris except where stated.
A big thank you to Machala for putting up with me doing this and Ian for his support and my Mum for her proof reading.
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